Disclaimer – I do not own Teen Titans, Eragon, BloodRayne, Deltora Quest, Soul Reaver, Dark Stalkers, The Legend of Dragoon, or any of the other things that I took little tidbits from.

Greetings from my room peeps. I'm sorry to say but I don't care what you vote for anymore…Terra is back…But one thing you CAN vote for is if I should turn anyone else into a creature of darkness…And I take any and all suggestions…A werewolf, a vampire…Anything you can think of…excluding telemarketers and door to door sales people. That would be TOO scary even for one of my fics…

On another note I'm sorry this took so long to update…I have been writing a book (which I will not tell you guys about but I will tell you the title later on) and I have been busy with it as well as being my usual lazy self! Hey, I'm a procrastinator and I have standards to keep!

Chapter 14: Scarlet Thirst

The Tower

The instant Adonis's blood fell upon Raven's tongue she felt as if she were in heaven. It was far sweeter than Cri's and so much thicker. The sticky fluid quickly cooled her burning throat and coated it. It warmed her body as it hit her stomach making her shiver and moan slightly. She reduced the blood flow to a sip, wanting the feeling of her first take of pure human blood to last as long as she could make it.

Raven had no idea how long Cri let her feed. The beating of Adonis's heart in her ears produced a hypnotic effect enhancing the feeling even more, making her feel as if she was floating in an endless void of pure pleasure. She felt at peace with everything, her emotions, her father, she just wanted to bask in the taste forever.

She was jerked rudely out of her trance by a sharp tap on the head. Raven immediately tore her fangs form Adonis's neck and swallowed hard. She hoped it didn't show but the empath was beginning to feel fear. She had promised herself that she would stay in control while feeding, that she would force herself to not enjoy it…But the taste and sensations of pure human blood had just shattered it.

She looked up at Cri who was actually smiling. "I didn't expect you to pull away on your own when I tapped you…I thought for sure I was gonna have to pull you off. Most fledglings can't come out of the trance they are put in by the sound of a mortal heartbeat…They usually have to be pulled away and restrained for a few minutes…And that's two months after they were turned…"

Raven grinned weakly and glanced back over at Adonis. He had crawled away and was now cowering under a piece of protruding rubble, his hand pressed over the bite marks. Cri slowly walked up to him smiling sadistically. "If you tell anyone about Raven's new 'eating habits' I will personally rip out your voice box and slowly carve out your heart using a dull hairpin…Is that clear?" Adonis nodded quickly shrinking back even more. "Good," Cri replied rather casually. She pulled Adonis's hand away from his neck and pressed her palm against the bloody bite marks, healing them. "I hope we meet again Adonis." Cri purred licking the blood off her hand.

She suddenly flinched and licked her hand a few more times. "Amazingly pure…" She mumbled between licks. She felt her fangs extend but she turned her back to Adonis. "Raven…Think we can find someone else tonight…My bloodlust has really been bothering me…" Raven narrowed her eyes…Something was wrong…Cri's usual rock steady stance was wavering slightly and she seemed to be growing paler. "Just one meal…Not like all the other nights…" She fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself.

Raven knelt beside her sire. "Cri…What's wrong?" Cri looked up at Raven tears stinging her eyes. "My bloodlust…It feels like I have gone a month without feeding and I gorged myself on five humans last night Raven…Five…All drained an inch from death…And I still wanted more…" Raven looked at her puzzled. "Why?" Raven asked quietly. Cri shook her head. "I have no idea…I just want to drink until I feel my stomach would burst…I want to just let my bloodlust rule my actions and loose myself in feeding for as long as possible…" Raven narrowed her eyes. She had studied dhampirs on Azarath and this was very unnatural behavior for them. Her mind was fuzzy on the matter but she knew that Cri didn't need blood. It was a condition caused by something. If only she could remember what. "Don't worry Cri…I think I know what's wrong…We just need to get back to the tower. I have a book with the answer in it…"

The War

Cri leaned back out of Soto's arms smiling. She gingerly took his head and placed it so that his ear was pressed against her stomach. "Do you hear her little heartbeat my love? I know I can…" Soto smiled and nodded slightly. "It brings me great joy knowing we will have a little one to call our own…" Cri's smile widened and she purred softly at him. "It brings me great joy too…Now…I get to name her." Soto gave her a funny look and chuckled. "And why do you get to name her?" Cri smiled mischievously at him. "Because I'm the one who is going to give birth to her." He sighed. "Fair enough…"

Cri grinned innocently at Soto. "I will name her Nightingale…" Soto just stared at her for a moment before smiling. "I like that name…" He whispered holding his love tightly in his arms. She smiled at him snuggling into his chest just content to be in his arms.

9 Months later

Cri knocked on the peacekeepers doors, dressed in her full dhampiric war attire. It consisted of a chain mail vest covered on both sides by thin, flexible, blood red leather. The front had a black design on it. Her pants were a durable flexible black leather and she wore spiked knee high leather boots with red on the upper rim. She also wore tough fingerless gloves of red and black and her gauntlets. Attached to them were her beloved blades and dhampir guns. As a final touch she wore a pair of her mother's hair rings and black ribbons so as not to forget her true home.

Cri was here because she had just finished her recovery month and was now ready to join the peacekeepers. She felt it not enough though. She hated having to give Nightingale to Soto to take care of when she was gone, but she knew that Soto would take good care of her and would sooner die then let her get hurt.

Giving birth to her daughter had been one of the most painful experiences of her entire life second only to Slade impaling her on that silver chain. Cri had also been very pleased at how well the law was doing. It's time had been extended a few years and she felt as happy as can be. The doors slowly opened, interrupting her thoughts, and she walked inside with her head held high feeling proud of herself, and just happy to be alive.

The Tower

Cri lay on Raven's bed curled up in a tight ball her arms crossed over her stomach whimpering softly. Raven was looking quickly through her bookshelf scanning books on dhampirs by the light of a floating candle. Raven had gone through over half of her books and found nothing of use. She was afraid the book she was looking for was left back on Azarath.

"Cri, I think I found it…" Cri sat bolt upright on the bed. "Read it Raven!" Cri nearly shouted at her. Raven cleared her throat and obeyed her sire's wish. "A dhampir normally requires far less blood than the normal vampire but a few things my trigger a temporary constant state of bloodlust if they are allowed to long to grow. This condition is sometimes known as Scarlet Thirst. They are stress, when something is missing, when something is desperately wanted, and finally a sense of impending doom but it is not known for what. In rare cases this condition can be triggered if a dhampir tastes an extremely exotic type of blood and its body will demand nothing less than the occasional taste of this blood. A mild stage of more than one of these conditions will also trigger it."

There was a long silence. Cri had no idea what she should do. This is because she has experienced or has been experiencing each and every one of those triggers. She has been stressed about the veil, she felt there was something or some clue she should see but just couldn't, she desperately wanted to cure the diseased people, she has had a sense of impending doom hanging over her head ever since she had returned and had no idea what was causing it, and finally the blood of a half demon is not something the average dhampir drinks every day.

"Every one of those has happened to me Raven…I don't know where to start…" Raven sighed. "Then start by seeing if my blood helps." She rolled up her sleeve slightly bearing her wrist to the distressed half vampire. Cri glanced at Raven slightly shocked and hesitated before sinking her fangs into it. Raven quickly turned her head away. She may now be a dhampir herself but watching Cri feed from her wrist would be just strange. Unbeknownst to Raven though Cri had secretly wanted to sample the demonic vampire's blood again.

Cri's eyes widened and she moaned slightly in shock. Raven's blood had changed drastically, or was it just her taste? It didn't really matter anyway. The demon's blood felt like molten fire as she drank and slowly dimmed down to the way it tasted when she turned her after just a few swallows. Cri let Raven have her wrist back and the dhampir licked her lips. "That…Was…So good…" She said gasping for breath one hand pressed over her heart. A small amount of color had returned to her cheeks and she felt a little better.

Raven nodded at her. "Personally I think it was a little of everything that did it to you…" Cri smiled weakly and stood shakily up. "I think that first thing tomorrow I should meditate with you to de stress myself and then force myself to cry and find some way to make it rain diluted phoenix tears or something…Raven gave her a skeptical look. "You're right…" Cri sighed. "It wouldn't work…But at least I'm trying to be optimistic little miss monotone…"

Raven glared at her. "Well let's not waste time then…We need to find out where the veil is coming from if we are ever going to stop it…How does the veil disease work? Is it a virus? A poison?" Cri shook her head. "It's a highly acidic mutagen…A very potent one." Raven thought for a moment. "So wouldn't a basic mutagen that would give the person opposite results if injected cancel each other out in the bloodstream…Or at least one mutagen fixes what the other changes over and over and over again until their body gets rid of both…" Cri's eyes lit up and she seemed to come back to life. "Then the disease wouldn't cause any problems! Trust the quiet one to come up with all the answers…" She gave Raven a light punch on the shoulder and smiled widely. Raven gave her a slight smile in return.

"Alright Cri," Raven said suddenly turning serious. "Now that that's settled would you please get out of my room?" Cri quickly got up and backed out of Raven's room. "Thanks for the help! Tomorrow calls for a little fun, and then a nice mutagenic sample of our good friend Plasmus. Raven's head jerked up just as the door was closing. 'Oh why did it have to be Plasmus?' She thought to herself. She hung her cape and belt up and crawled into her bed quickly falling asleep.

……………………………………………………

The next day was overcast and dark clouds were rolling in towards the city from all sides. It looked like there was going to be some major rain or snow happening soon. As Cri walked into the living room after finishing her breakfast (which she made sure to drink after waiting for Titans to finish their meals first) She found Beastboy sitting on the couch looking depressed. Cri sat down next to him and tilted her head to the side. "What's wrong BB? You haven't told a joke all day…While all the other Titans and I are very thankful of this, I'm worried…What seems to be troubling you?"

The changeling looked up at the dhampir but quickly turned his head away. "It's nothing…" He said sadly. "Well it's something but nothing can be done about it…" Cri rested one hand on his shoulder. "Beastboy…It's ok…You can tell me…" Beastboy faltered for a moment and hung his head in defeat. "Alright Cri…It's been a full two months today since Terra was petrified…You didn't know her…" Cri looked at him curiously. "Did you love her?" Beastboy's head jerked up and he looked at Cri, his eyes filling with tears. He nodded slowly. "Well then," Cri said smiling slightly. "We shall revive her with the power of love! Oh, and a little black magic mixed in with a spell I like to call 'Stone to Flesh'"

……

After reading up on a few spells Cri was ready to go. She teleported Beastboy and herself to central park where Terra's statue had been moved after the incident with Slade had been completely resolved. "Alright Beastboy, lead the way." The changeling walked into the park, Cri right behind him. Beastboy led her right up to Terra's statue. She whistled as she looked up at it. "Wow…Complete petrifaction…If I revive her you're going to owe me B…This is going to take a lot out of me…"

Cri placed one hand on the statue and closed her eyes, immediately finding herself in a plain white void. She looked around and found Terra curled in a fetal position a ways off. Cri looked down at herself. She was in her true vampiric form in the void but it couldn't be helped. She was completely black and furry with cat ears, a tail, and a raven's wings. There was a V of silver fur on her chest and her tail was tipped with silver. Two hair strands of silver framed her face and her wings were highlighted with it. Her hands and feet were also dipped in silver, along with the tips of her ears. She sighed and flew towards Terra hoping she wouldn't scare her too much.

As Cri approached the blonde girl she took one look at the dhampir's form and closed her eyes again. "Are you death?" She asked in a timid voice. "I hope you are…I hope my punishment is over and I can finally rest…" Cri's eyes grew pained. "No Terra…I'm not the reaper of souls but I am here for you…" She got up close to her face. "Would you like another chance to live? Beastboy misses you dearly and…" She shot up looking at her wide eyed. "Beastboy? Really? I will do whatever it takes to get out of here!"

Cri just smiled. "In that case just sit here and don't move…Clear your mind…Rest while you can…This is going to hurt…A lot…" Cri teleported out before Terra could Respond. Beastboy nearly pounced on Cri when he saw her start moving again. "What's the news? Does she want to be restored?" Cri nodded smiling. "Stand back alright?" She waited a minute or so before placing her hands on the smooth stone. She began chanting softly, making the stone glow with a bright, cleansing energy.

It took a good thirty seconds but finally the energy died down and there stood Terra, her flesh and blood restored, teetering slightly. She fell off the pedestal and Cri tried to catch her but Beastboy beat her to it. "Terra!" He shouted. Terra cracked her eyes open and looked up at the changeling. "Beastboy?" She said weakly. "Are you mad at me?" Beastboy shook his head. "Of course not Terra…How could I? You're finally back!" Terra smiled and closed her eyes again. Finally this Titan had returned home.

There another (yet overdue) chapter finished. I really am sorry it took so long...I actually had it finished a few days ago but I have a bad cold. Sorry 'bout that...Hope you enjoy it! Please review!